LES Barbecue Restaurant Shutters After More than a Decade

It’s a busy week in the NYC restaurant world, starting with the news that another longtime restaurant on the Lower East Side has shuttered. After 11 years of serving Southern-style barbecue plates and sandwiches on the LES, Georgia’s Eastside BBQ closed after service on May 6th.

According to a farewell post on Instagram, the shutter is the result of multiple reasons but “principally construction problems.” The restaurant was located next to the luxury condo development undergoing construction at 196 Orchard St., which the restaurant complained about in another Instagram post in March. Last August, owner Alan Natkiel told Bowery Boogie that a temporary closure of the restaurant by the DOH for vermin issues was the direct result of the neighboring construction.

Also on the LES, after nearly four months without gas, chicken chain Sweet Chick’s Ludlow Street location has reopened. The Nas-backed restaurant briefly flipped into a waffle-taco concept when the issue first arose, but that didn’t last very long. Now, it’s back for real.

Elsewhere, several new restaurants have opened in the city, including a new Manhattan location of Brooklyn poke joint Pokebab at 2047A Broadway on the UWS. East Village’s 16 Handles has reopened after closing for renovations last month. In Noho, a new Korean-Japanese restaurant called The Bari has opened at 417 Lafayette St., serving bites like steamed bone marrow with kimchi and soju-braised gochujang ribs with Korean miso. There’s a drink menu of teas, cocktails, and sake.

And on the horizon, Asian-fusion noodle and hot pot spot Hot Box is coming soon to 77 Second Ave. in East Village. The East Village location of Moxy Hotel is also officially in the works, expected to open in fall 2019.